Word: valentinus
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Nancy Gibbs' attack on Valentine's Day (which she called "A Day to Forget") is right up there with the Grinch stealing Christmas [Feb. 18]. Perhaps Gibbs, too, needs to check the size of her heart. The day's popularity throughout so many centuries suggests that the stories of Valentinus' deeds in the service of love have caught the public's imagination. Before condemning things of legend, consider how we have incorporated tales of another saint into our lives. Although society has made Santa Claus the hero of a consumer-driven, materialistic culture, at the core of that character...
...called "A Day to Forget") is right up there with the Grinch stealing Christmas [Feb. 18]. Perhaps Gibbs, too, needs to check the size of her heart. She noted that the feast day's origins are murky, but its popularity throughout so many centuries suggests that the stories of Valentinus' deeds in the service of love have caught the public's imagination. Before condemning things of legend, consider how we have incorporated tales of another saint into our lives. Although society has made Santa Claus the hero of a consumer-driven, materialistic culture, at the core of that character...
...called "A Day to Forget") is right up there with the Grinch stealing Christmas [Feb. 18]. Perhaps Gibbs, too, needs to check the size of her heart. She noted that the feast day's origins are murky, but its popularity throughout so many centuries suggests that the stories of Valentinus' deeds in the service of love have caught the public's imagination. Before condemning things of legend, consider how we have incorporated tales of another saint into our lives. Although society has made Santa Claus the hero of a consumer-driven, materialistic culture, at the core of that character...
...what it's really celebrating. Or at least no idea of whom it celebrates: St. Valentine could be any of half a dozen Christian martyrs whom the early church recruited to clean up and bless pagan fertility festivals. Of the top candidates, the best known is a priest named Valentinus, who was beheaded by Emperor Claudius the Cruel on Feb. 14, A.D. 269. Upon slim evidence, whole layers of legend are stacked: that Valentinus performed secret weddings after Claudius banned marriage to prevent soldiers from deserting his armies; that he refused to deny Christ and so was thrown in prison...